Guatemala Deploys Army to Uproot Gang Control in Nation’s Capital

GUATEMALA CITY – One month after a vicious string of attacks by gang members, stretching across the capital of Guatemala City and resulting in the deaths of 11 police officers, the government of President Bernardo Arévalo has launched “Plan Sentinel,” a broad-sweeping security operation that aims to displace the control and influence of the nation’s drug gangs over Guatemala City.

MS-13 & the Barrio 18 street gangs have wielded almost unrestricted influence over large pieces of territory in the country for decades, catapulting the nation into one of its most severe periods of domestic violence in a generation.

Following the January attacks, which were planned in coordination with the gang’s prison leadership that launched several mutinies across three major prison facilities near and around the nation’s capital, taking dozens hostage, the Arévalo government declared a 30-day state of emergency.

This week, restriction have been lifted, but hundreds of soldiers from the Guatemalan armed forces were deployed to patrol the capital’s streets to supplement the heightened security measures to ensure state control of Guatemala City from the gangs.

Guatemala’s Arévalo, at the head of the nation’s left-wing government, has embarked on a controversial campaign to purge the nation’s justice system, which has long been accused of engaging in public corruption and colluding with the violent drug gangs for years.

Members of the UNE (National Unity of Hope) bloc, Guatemala’s conservative opposition party, have also clashed heads with the ruling government over accusations of criminal collusion, with UNE members condemning the government’s party for conducting negotiations with the gangs over more favorable prison conditions.

Arévalo claims that the gangs are attempting to “destabilize” the Central American country in an attempt to curtail his administration’s push to reinvigorate the country’s law enforcement efforts and clean the national justice system.

Arévalo is also moving to demonstrate to the right-wing hardliners that his liberal-leaning administration is just as capable of cracking down on Guatemala’s gang element as the traditional conservative party has been in previous years.

The majority of residents, however, view the security issue as one of their top concerns, as robberies, assaults, extortion, and homicides remain at severely high levels.

Meanwhile, the Arévalo government is now touting that the nation’s “homicide rate has been on a steady decline compared to previous years, when murders reached their peak in 2009 with 46 killings per 100,000,” as was previously reported by Sociedad Media.

One month after the state of emergency, Arévalo applauded the sudden drop in homicides as a “resounding result.”

The month-long deployment led to a 50% decrease in murders and a 33% drop in extortions during the same time last year.